25 Ways to Spark Creativity

On the Fence - my corpsepaint kitties up to mischief

I am a rather over-zealous creative. as you might be aware :). Between the blog and writing and painting, my mind’s at work constantly thinking through new and random ideas. I only begin a fraction of the projects I imagine, and of those, I try to finish most of them, but I don’t always succeed.

People ask me how I find the time to create. But it’s easy, as long as you make it a priority. When I was 16 I timed how many hours a week I spent watching TV. That was an eye-opener. I cut way back on my TV time and focused that energy into writing. It’s a habit that’s stayed with me ever since.

CDH is a rather creative mind too, as evidenced by our dining room table, which is currently covered in a work-in-progress plaster model of a train layout.

I don’t need to feel motivated to create anymore. I’ve made a habit of sitting down at my computer or with my art supplies even when I don’t feel like it, and within a few minutes of beginning, the calm and euphoria settle on me, and I’m in my happy place. When you look for the first time at a creative project you’ve completed, you know how worthwhile dropping all that TV, or internet, or sex (OK, maybe not sex) was.

But, it can be a real challenge to create this habit. So, here are a few ideas to help motivate and inspire creativity.

1. Hang out with Someone overzealously creative

Maybe YOU don’t know what to do with this bubbling creative energy, but someone who’s used to turning their energy into completled projects sure does. Ask them what they’re working on recently, and as they launch into an enthusiastic monologue (with hand gestures and all!) about their latest painting concept, you’ll start to feel their enthusiam pulling you.

Ask them for their tips on your project – maybe they have a few ideas to get your momentum going again.

2. Practise Free-forming

Place in front of you: a blank sheet of paper, a pen or pencil, and a timer. Give yourself five minutes to fill the sheet of paper, with anything! Doodles, writing, smusic notes, caricatures of your friends, random, unassociated thoughts, strange patterns of scribbles. You might stumble upon something golden.

3. Drag out an uncompleted project.

Every person with even mild creative temperement has a closet full of unfinished projects. Choose one, drag it out, and finish it. Once you’ve experienced that first feeling of satisfaction, you’ll want it again and again.

4. Take a class

Community Courses abound with creative classes for a fraction of the cost of art school, taught by enthusiastic, professional artists. Most classes run in the evenings so you don’t even take time off work. CDH and I take a different class every semester – at the moment, we’re learning German, but I’ve also done Photoshop, acting and Massage, and next semester I’m doing cooking and preserves. Brush up your skills in intermediate painting or try something completely different like origami or dollshouse miniatures.

5. Enter an art competition

There’s nothing like an entry date and the possibility of a prize to spur you into action. In my youth in a small town I used to enter the local art competition every year. I never won anything, but I sold a painting once – the best thrill of my life. It’s incredible walking into a gallery and seeing your work on the walls. I’m painting like mad to enter a piece into an Arts Festival Competition in July – I am REALLY enjoying working on the piece, and sometimes you just never know what can come of these opportunities.

To find art competitions in your area, subscribe to a local art magazine, art forum, or gallery mailing list. I found out about this competition through a friend of my husband, who happens to work at the gallery. Good luck to you!

6. One of these things is not like the other

Choose two random things (preferebly two things you know a lot about) – Plato and Push-up bras, or Buddhism and Bathroom Tiles. Now, in your best academic tone, comprise a mini essay comparing the two things. Creative academia thrives on finding meaning where there was no meaning at all, and this exercise (which I made up, by the way, because most of my university essays read like this: “Socrates and Monty Python”, “Mesopotanian Funerary Customs and Zombies”, etc. (got an A on the Monty Python one, A+ on the Zombies one).

7. Join an Online Forum

Nothing like collective creativity to get you motivated. I’ve recently joined a steampunk forum, and seeing them post their amazing mods and paintings and digital art has directly inspired my latest forays into steampunky illustration.

For handmade crafters, I like craftster, or even the Etsy forums. For writers, I really enjoy the community at Forward Motion for Writers.

8. Give yourself a challenge

I work at my best when I’m racing to meet goals – whether they’re deadlines imposed by others, or arbitrary goals imposed upon myself. I give myself a deadline to complete a specific challenge – a challenging goal without being ridiculously beyond me. For example, I don’t have the time to dedicate to creating a new piece of art every day, but I set myself a May goal to create one new original artwork every week, and I did it. I’ve made the same goal for June, as I have a craft show at the beginning of June and I need new pieces to sell.

9. Create fan art (and send it to your admired)

Most musicians, actors, writers and artists love receiving fan art of themselves and their characters. Because of copyright purposes, sometimes people can’t look at fan art – their website should tell you whether they will be able to look at your work or not. Lots of celebrities share fan art on their websites – you might get a mention.

Also, even just sending a piece of artwork to a celebrity can result in amazing things. I’m sending a set of postcards to Annete Ozlen of Nightwish – I am hoping she’ll blog about them and maybe a few other people might like my art, too.

10. Draw / Write / Sing your fantasy life

Sometimes, if you want your life to be more creative, you have to live as though it already is. What would you do if you were a full-time artist? What would you di if you had a highly successful blog? Do that anyway.

11. Invite Fellow Creatives to an Working Party

Among my group of friends we have several writers, a couple of painters, and some stunning musicians. I’ve been to two working parties in the last year and they really get the creativity flying. Ask everyone to bring a plate of food to share, a CD of their favorite music and a project they’re working on. Make sure you choose a room with enough space and can find enough powerpoints for the writers and their laptops. pop some music on and work away like busy bees, occassionally stopping to read out a paragraph or ask an opinion on a color.

We also break up the day with fun, five minute creative challenges – write a poem using a specific formula in 5 minutes, write something using three random words in five minutes … you get the idea.

12. Wear clothes that inspire you.

Whoever said “clothes maketh the man” knew more than he let on. I am a huge believer in letting what you show on the outside reflect who you want to be on the inside. So get creative – you don’t have to buy new threads, but reinvent your favorite old jeans, dresses and skirts into unusual looks – layer with clashing colours, wrap scarves through your belt loops, add your favorite jewelry. Getting creative with your outfit first thing in the morning sets you up to be creative all day long.

13. Dedicate one wall in your house to items that inspire you.

I decorate the walls of my studio with artwork, photographs from some of the happiest moments in my life, poems and words that fill me with joy and hope an longing. Everytime I’m in need of a little inspiration, I just need to look around me.

14. Send a handmade valentine

You don’t have to find a secret admirer – even a friend or relative will appreciate a heartfelt, handcrafted valentine extolling their virtues. Use whatever mediumm you like – write them a poem, compose a song, draw them a cartoon, make a card …

15. Write a tutorial and sent it to a magazine

Magazines like Painting and Stampington love receiving tutorials for simple and unique crafts – and yes, they’ll pay you for them. You might find the process of submitting and publishing craft articles so addictive you just can’t stop. This is something I’m hoping to work on more this year, when I’m not so bogged down with copywriting work.

16. Join a Collective / Creative Group.

Local community art collectives can provide you with some great inspiration and opportunities. Active collectives meet regularly, and plot and plan how to take over the world togehter. Collectives also produce group exhibitions, edit anthologies or record jam sessions.

17. Create Guerrilla Art

Hang your artwork where people will see it – on lamp posts, at the bus station, on the sides of buildings. Draw pictures on the sidewalk, make sculptures at the park – just make it surrepticious and don’t get caught!

18. Embrace a Different Religion (even if only for a little while!)

And I mean really embrace it. Try to become a person who could believe in whatever. Read the teachings, find the inner truth inside all the dogma – there’s always a great lesson to learn.

19. Write a To-do list

Make it super-creative, and have fun. Now get to and start doing it! Use my Guide for Writing To-Do lists to help you get started.

20. Go for a Walk

Leave your house, turn right, and keep walking until you no longer know where you are. I love walking around the neighbourhoods, because I find these odd little spaces I never would otherwise know – a tiny cemetery, a creaking, abandoned park, a garden in the middle of a roundabout.

21. Apply for a Job you’re not qualified for

Either a job completly unsuited to your skill base of a job you’d adore but seems WAY out of your league. Write the most outrageously creative resume and application imaginable. Hell, if nothing else, you’ll make the recruiter’s day. And sometimes, you just never know where a little creativity can get you.

22. Try Stand-Up comedy

Everyone has a little funny in them. If you’re one of those people who is always being told how funny you are, why not give stand-up a go? It’s a concept completly outside most peoples’ confort zone, which is what makes it so awesome. I speak from experience here, as I’ve performed stand-up routines both in a comedy club and in a theatre to about 500 people. And yes, they all laughed, and it was the most fantastic feeling in the world.

Whether you succeed, or you’re just a big flop, getting up on stage to do stand-up is one of the bravest thigns you can ever do.

23. “Art” busk

Paint portraits for $1. Write limericks for 50c. Sing a song for a smile. Create impromptu art for people on the street. (Just check the area you plan on busking in, as some streets require a license).

24. Dance

Put some music on and just let your body do what it wants to. Shut the door so your flatmates can’t laugh. A great way to loosen up before beginning a creative activity.

25. Write an article for a blog

There are so many blogs online nowadays you’re bound to find one that speaks to your fellow creatives. Write an article for them, on a subject they are interested in, ask a question, include a video and lots of picture …

Why write an article for a blog? You get instant recognition and communication about your subject. Enjoy the kind of heated discussion blog comments usually involve. (I’m always keen to showcase guest writers if you’ve ever wanted to write for Steff Metal – hint, hint :))

What other ways can you think of to spark and inspire creativity?

Yours with plaster glue on my fingers